Upgrading to a 4TB SSD for your PS5 might cost less than you think

If you want to grab an especially large capacity SSD for your PS5, then you might just want to take a look at this roundup of the best 4TB PS5 SSDs

[FallenAngel1984]

I just saw Newegg and Best Buy selling a 4TB SSD compatible with PS5 for $199.99

Meanwhile that 2TB expansion card for Xbox Series X|S is $359.99

[darthv72]

Yeah... MS really messed up there. And the worst part is the expansion card is just the same SSD as the internal but in a CFExpress case. WD is supposed to be releasing their own in sizes ranging from 256gb up to 4tb but I'm thinking they have to wait for the exclusivity contract with Seagate to expire. Sandisk is also rumored to have their own expansion cards as well.

On a side note, i went to newegg and couldnt find 4tb for $200 but i did find 2tb for $130: https://www.newegg.com/p/0D...

[dangerousbrian0]

I am sure the Microsoft exclusivity contract with Seagate has expired I could be wrong unless they have renewed it which if they have wouldn't surprise me.

[Eonjay]

That 2TB for 129.99 is incredible. It comes with a heatsink and is extremely fast. What a freaking deal.

[DarXyde]

Proprietary memory is the worst.

I remember back in the day bidding like a madman on eBay for PSP memory sticks.

$50 for one GB was a bloody steal at the time.

Tech moves fast.

[darthv72]

DarXyde....??? PSP memory sticks weren't proprietary. They were MS Pro Duo which was used in their MP3 players and cameras at the time. Even the PSP Go used their M2 memory cards which were compatible with their Ericson line of phones. Sure they were $$ but then most of those memory sticks were back in the day.

That is where they really went wrong with the Vita. they should have just stuck to using the M2 as it was already proven and widely available. But noooooo... they just had to change the casing to be different. Here is a pic for comparison: https://th.bing.com/th/id/O...

[DarXyde]

Darthv72,

Not when I was looking for it, mate. Sony was the only one making the Pro Duo memory sticks when I was looking for it. SanDisk started making them available eventually, but yeah, Sony was the only game in town when I was shopping for em.

[FallenAngel1984]

That internal $199.99 4TB SSD on Newegg is right here

https://www.newegg.com/cruc...

Meanwhile on Best Buy I see that Xbox Series X|S 1TB expansion card going for $199.99 as well

https://www.bestbuy.com/sit...

Proprietary storage will always be the worse option. You’d think Microsoft would’ve learned that with the transition from the Xbox 360 to Xbox One but here we are

[darthv72]

thanks, i saw that one but it didnt meet the PS5 spec. I assume many that fall short will still work though. I use the SN850X 2tb I got from amazon for $179 just a couple months ago but that should hold me over until 4tb version comes down to under $200 as well.

[Eidolon]

That P3 doesn't fit the bill for PS5's "requirements", I wouldn't accept if it just works for some games, I would want it to be future proof if I'm spending $200. 4TB and meeting the requirements will easily be $300+, on sale. For some reason $ per tb goes up for 4TB, and $300 would be the cheapest(on sale) if it were to match 1tb-2tb sale prices. $200 for 1tb is ridiculous, thoug, you can usually get NVMe for 60-70 per TB. so it's 3x the price.

[MrNinosan]

That 4tb doesn't work on PS5. It's way to slow.

[Neonridr]

that one is a little on the slow side, not to mention you have to buy the heat sink on top of that.

[porkChop]

The expansion card for Xbox isn't a normal NVMe. It's the square-shaped 2230 style. If you look at similar NVMes with the same speeds you'll see MS isn't actually out of line on pricing. Obviously MS didn't need to use 2230, they could have gone with the standard 2280 which would have been cheaper. The enclosure could have been designed to plug in to a vertical slot.

[REDGUM]

Wow, that's a huge difference in cost & hard drive capacity.

[Vengeance1138]

MS clearly didn't learn from Sony's past mistakes with the PS Vita. Big win for Sony in this area who actually shows they are capable of learning.

[darthv72]

There is a sense of irony here as in both cases of the vita and this xb expansion are really nothing special in terms of their storage. The vita card was just a rebranded M2 Sony already had on the market but they opted to change the notch to prevent people using the existing M2 cards.

And the xb expansion is the same 2230 ssd that is used internally on the series. those can be found for cheap but MS blocks the use of off the shelf parts with the stupid CFExpress casing. I've seen tests done with other brands and some work and some dont. MS could release their own little adapter and be done with all this nonsense. instead they let Seagate corner the market (for now)

[umair_s51]

That's not true. Xbox storage card supports quick resume.

[DivineHand125]

It's not not the same as the PS Vita. The 2230 ssd in the Xbox series is not a proprietary format and is an actual type of ssd that being sold on the market. This is the same type of ssd that is used in devices like the steam deck because of its small form factor.

Microsoft's mistake here was choosing to use that format ssd instead of waiting a little longer for the gen 4 nvmes like Sony. The adaption rate of the 2230 size SSDs is much slower than the gen 4 SSDs and this has led to it remaining at a high price while almost every storage maker already have gen4 SSDs on the market.

I suspect the low storage space available on the Xbox series S pressured Microsoft to go with the 2230 sized SSDs instead of waiting for gen4 to launch. In a few years as more devices start to use the 2230 size, the hope is that storage makers will adopted that format in time.

[darthv72]

It is gen4 2230 that is used both internal and in the expansion cards.

[jznrpg]

I love the fastest loading possible so I won’t go with these lesser write speeds but I can get the one I want for around 500$ 4TB. Prices keep going down so by the time I buy my next PS5 (this fall when modular PS5 is supposedly releasing) hopefully it drops even more but I’ll buy it either way .

[RedDevils]

I would wait for the slim before I buy another PS5.

[Eidolon]

The one you want? It's not a PC, the PS5 uses what it needs.. $350 would be enough(for WD 850x), maybe 10-20 for a heatsink..

[ModsDoBetter]

I bought the one Mark Cerny was using at the time, the WD SN850 which set me back around £150 for 1tb, now you can get the 2tb from WD for that price, it’s crazy how fast they’re dropping in price.

Meanwhile Microsoft went with something which seemed a good idea at the time but as they’ve pretty much cornered it off to any third parties, the price remains far too high per TB.

[purple101]

Sonys so clever. You could actually put laptop drives all the way back at ps3

But now they made it easy with snap off cover. and even a dust port to hover out. ! Exceptional engineering.

[Knushwood Butt]

I actually have a laptop HDD from a busted VAIO in my launch model PS4, and it works fine with an additional 250 GB of storage to boot.

[jznrpg]

That’s what I have it’s really nice . I’ll get the Firecuda 4tb for the next PS5 model that’s supposed to come out later this year .

[gerbintosh]

While making their hd exclusive to one company is an issue it is not the main issue in regards to price. The problem is that they went with the 2230 hd form instead of m.2. Almost no company is using 2230 for their pc's, no one is really buying them, and due to that the price remains high. For example, A 1tb 2230 for the steam deck costs more than the 2tb m.2 i just bought for my ps5.

[darthv72]

M.2 is the interface. 2230 is the form factor. Series uses M.2 2230 Gen4 ssd. PS5 cas also use 2230. If you look at the numbers next to the spacer holes in the expansion, they correspond to the last 2 of an SSD form factor. Like 80 is for 2280 and 30 is for 2230.

Hope that helps to better understand.

[masterfox]

one of the most best decisions Sony could have done for a Playstation console, they win and the consumer wins as well.

[jznrpg]

People were crapping on PS saying it was so hard to upgrade your drive and saying they should have went with the easy proprietary route that MS did. It’s so easy to swap out a drive literally takes 1-2 minutes and you can pick what’s best for you . Prices are so cheap now for 2TB . Can almost get a high end 4tb for the cost of MS proprietary 2TB which is crazy

[darthv72]

to be fair, people weren't crapping on the PS5 because it was hard... just inconvenient. I mean seriously this is the steps it takes:
unplug PS5
remove side panel
remove expansion plate / retention screw & spacer
insert drive and secure with retention screw & spacer
replace expansion plate
replace side panel
plug back in the ps5 and proceed through the format process

OR...
Series: Open package and plug in drive.

Literally, that's it. And convenience comes at a steeper price (currently) but there is hope that WD and Sandisk will be bringing their expansion cards to market to provide some cost competitive options. But for now... it really sucks ass to buy an expansion card. Now i will say that convenience also comes with the benefit of being able to take the card from one system to another. I am just such a person who does that as I use my SX at home and my SS when i travel and I like being able to just pop out the card. I've thought of getting another card but I don't want to go lower than 1tb I have now and would rather get the 2tb but it is just so damn $$.

[FIELDMARSHALL_P]

yea i upgraded mine a couple of months after I got it with some Dell Bucks I had from ordering equipment from work. I thought it would be a pain to add the drive after reading people moaning about it. Took me 5 minutes because my daughter wanted to see the inside of the 5 so i let her look at it for a little bit and put the cover back on. I don't see what the fuss was about. I just wish I got a bigger drive than 2 TB.

[fr0sty]

If adding a couple steps to the install process gives me 2x the storage space (and faster overall speeds, considering Kraken hardware decompression is added to the mix) at the same price, sign me up!

[hiawa23]

I bought my 2TB WD Sn850 SSD back in 21 in the Sony test group and what I paid for the 2TB, now the 4TB is cheaper than that.

[fan_of_gaming]

I'd like to upgrade mine, but I'm waiting for one with a 8TB capacity

[Zeke68]

The PS5 only supports SSD sizes up to 4TB at the moment. Check the official specifications if you don't believe me. ;)

[fan_of_gaming]

You're probably right, I haven't looked into it that closely because I know 4TB isn't enough for me anyway. The question is, is that because a larger than 4TB doesn't exist yet, or is 4TB all the PS5 is actually capable of handling? If it's the former, hopefully a firmware update would fix that once larger drives were available.

[Zeke68]

They built the SSDcontroller chip to work at maximum speed up to 4 TB max at the moment. But maybe they can tweak that with a firmware update, not sure. My guess is they up the size in the next revision of the PS5 to be honest. I have the 2TB drive together with the built-in original SSD so I hav about 2.7 TB in total. Still need to delete / reinstall games from time to time, but the 4TB should be enough for you even if you're a hoarder of games like I am. ;)